reads as follows from the NIV version of the Bible:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
4 to him who alone does great wonders,
His love endures forever.
5 who by his understanding made the heavens,
His love endures forever.
6 who spread out the earth upon the waters,
His love endures forever.
7 who made the great lights—
His love endures forever.
8 the sun to govern the day,
His love endures forever.
9 the moon and stars to govern the night;
His love endures forever.
10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
His love endures forever.
11 and brought Israel out from among them
His love endures forever.
12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm;
His love endures forever.
13 to him who divided the Red Sea asunder
His love endures forever.
14 and brought Israel through the midst of it,
His love endures forever.
15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea;
His love endures forever.
16 to him who led his people through the desert,
His love endures forever.
17 who struck down great kings,
His love endures forever.
18 and killed mighty kings—
His love endures forever.
19 Sihon king of the Amorites
His love endures forever.
20 and Og king of Bashan—
His love endures forever.
21 and gave their land as an inheritance,
His love endures forever.
22 an inheritance to his servant Israel;
His love endures forever.
23 to the One who remembered us in our low estate
His love endures forever.
24 and freed us from our enemies,
His love endures forever.
25 and who gives food to every creature.
His love endures forever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His love endures forever.
It is easy enough to feel, I am among the forgotten. And many people do arrive at that perception.
And that feeling of being forgotten, also makes us feel smaller and of a lower estate even if that is not the real truth.
It really at times doesn't take much for any individual out there to feel forgotten and the only way to remedy this is through seeking and then finding the presence of the Lord because as it says in this psalm he alone is the source of all wonder.
The focal point of this psalm is verse 23 which says in the New Oxford Annotated version of the Bible,
"It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures for ever."
It says in verse 8 and 9 that he gives the sun to rule over the day and the moon and stars to rule over the night.
A way to think about these things, is suppose they were absent, even for a while. Suppose one day there was no sun even behind the clouds. Or suppose the night sky was suddenly missing the moon and the stars.
That isn't happening and their constant presence is a wonder that involves the Lord's remembering that there are people here that need the sun and need the lights in the night sky.
This remembrance includes the steady supply of food from the earth that can be had but suppose this was absent and the all the farmable land of the earth was now barren?
But we can contemplate the ready supply of many things as from the hand of the Lord, as part of his wonders for us and evidence that we are not forgotten.
The march through the Red Seas was evidence that the Lord has in mind all that is involved.
There was a pursuing army to be dealt with, there was the lack of transport across the sea to be dealt with, there Egypt's prior stubbornness to be dealt with.
The Lord is not forgetting any aspect of the situation at hand and what is involved.
Verse 24 speaks of the rescue, the rescue is the opposite of leaving someone stranding or basically forgetting about them.
Isaiah Chapter 49 verses 15 and 16 read as follows:
15 "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.
It is possible in human terms that even a mother would forget about her child as close as that relationship is.
But these verses from Isaiah, talk about a remembrance that will never fail and that all of you and yours is ever before that Lord and seen as imaged in the palm of his hand.
From the gospel of Luke Chapter 23 verses 43 and 43 says:
42Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
43Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
This man, who was certainly in the position of low estate as a criminal being put to death, dialogued with Jesus and sought repentance.
He asked Jesus to remember him, or not to forget him.
The response of Jesus was the truth that he will be remembered and in fact this very day this man would be with him in paradise.
This was one real individual but he does represent a symbol for all, how all of us can in one way or another way be of low estate, but the Lord will remember us there, find us there and ultimately bring us to paradise from there.
So many things can make someone feel forgotten; it might be just that feeling of being lost in the crowd, of lots of things not going your way, or nobody getting your sense of humor or being interesting in your line of conversation.
Nobody can immunize themselves from that sometime feeling of being alone and that feeling of being forgotten.
When this is happening or beginning to happen, the way to go is the way to the Lord, in prayer, meditation and thanks giving and in also bringing a heightened understanding that the wonders that are already there for you are the signs and signals that you indeed are not forgotten.
The truth.
Never alone, never forsaken, always remembered, and never forgotten.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/christianity-articles/never-forgotten-and-psalm-136-2127478.htmlAuthor: Joseph Jagde